An individual or team of non-social-work caseworkers who specialise in the elements of support that are specific to immigration status related exclusions and hold a caseload of families and/or adults who have been assessed as eligible for social care support. Non social-work caseworkers will work in partnership with social workers across adult and children social care to deliver statutory assessments, reviews, and deliver care.

5.1 Overview

NRPF caseworkers or casework teams can sit in either adults or children’s social care or outside of social care, typically in housing or equalities directorates. They are often part of a wider refugee and migrant service (or persons from abroad service) alongside refugee resettlement and asylum services. They will usually work with both adults and families, including those with pre-settled status granted under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Caseworkers will only deal with the elements of support unique to people with no recourse to public funds such as accommodation, subsistence, and finding long-term routes out of destitution etc., as well as supporting social workers with assessments and provision of care and support.

Caseworkers are typically not qualified social workers and will hold cases jointly with a lead practitioner who holds the appropriate social work skills and expertise when assessing, meeting and reviewing care and support needs. This approach can embed a consistency of service provision where caseworkers ensure consistency of provision of accommodation and subsistence while social workers focus on their core social work skills and ensure a consistency of generic social work. A clear division of responsibilities between service areas is an important a feature of this model of service provision.

As caseworkers work jointly with social workers from across the council, this structure can more easily accommodate periods of increased demand for assessments and support, with all referrals being directed to existing social services teams for an initial response. Supported households will usually retain the same caseworker if they move between social work teams, such as from child in need to child protection, or to residential care.

Councils can also find it easier to recruit NRPF caseworkers with the required expertise if they do not also need to be trained social workers.

5.2 How key elements are delivered

Oversight

• Responsibility for the oversight of services for people with no recourse to public funds will sit with the team manager, usually with a separate budget for accommodation, subsistence, and salaries.
• Other social care considerations will be overseen by social care managers alongside their normal roles.

Training and knowledge sharing

• Caseworkers will be regularly trained in matters relating to the NRPF condition and may be asked to train staff members from other council areas.
• They will be an expert contact in the council for queries related to immigration-based exclusions and services for people with no recourse to public funds.
• Caseworkers will need to attend social care training courses to upskill in this area and understand how their role fits within the execution of social care duties.
• Support must be given to up-skill social workers in all teams so that they can respond to the initial referrals received for people who are also affected by the no recourse to public funds condition.

Referral routes

• Initial referrals for support will either be made directly to the NRPF caseworkers or as a secondary referral, via social services.
• Secondary referrals are more common as a social worker will be required for the assessment of need.
• In some cases, any emergency support provision required will remain the responsibility of the social work team, with support later transferring to the NRPF team.

Assessment of need

• Assessments will be carried out jointly with social workers and NRPF caseworkers.
• The social worker will ensure the assessment is conducted in line with statutory guidance and the caseworker can assist with immigration aspects, investigating financial circumstances, and support options abroad.
• For family cases, the child in need assessment will have to consider how immigration restrictions and financial circumstances impact on the child’s needs.
• For adult cases, the social worker’s focus should be on determining care and support needs before jointly considering immigration restrictions and financial circumstances in determining what support is required to meet needs.
• Social work teams may decide to identify social workers who might lead on assessments for NRPF households, perhaps because of experience gained or to promote building of expertise and to create a point of contact between the two services.
• Human rights assessments will usually be carried out by NPRF caseworkers, as informed by the findings of the needs assessment.

Provision of destitution relief

• The provision of destitution relief i.e. subsistence and accommodation, including services such as finding properties, paying council tax, giving out pre-payment cards, and grant programmes for certain groups will be done by NPRF caseworkers or administrative staff.
• Sometimes NRPF teams will employ a specialist housing officer to procure and inspect housing. In emergencies, social work teams may organise for initial relief whilst a referral to the NRPF team is made.

Provision of care and support beyond destitution relief

• Where social care services are required beyond destitution relief, they will be provided by the allocated social worker.
• In cases where additional services are not required, typically with CIN cases where a lack of housing or funds is the only safeguarding risk to the family, social workers must still review their needs assessments and remain assured that needs are being met.
• Changes in need may require cases to be reallocated to different social work teams, such as residential care for adults, or if child protection is engaged for a family.
• NRPF caseworker allocation will remain the consistent regardless of which social care team or social worker may be involved in meeting the household’s needs at any given time.
• For all households, including those which only require accommodation and subsistence support, social workers must ensure that care and support needs are being continuously assessed, and newly presenting needs are not missed.
• Often councils will agree a formal Memorandum of Understanding or Service Level Agreement between social services departments and an NPRF casework team to clearly define roles and expectations.

Pathways off support

• Responsibility for promoting independence and assisting supported households to identify and achieve a long-term pathway out of destitution will be handled by the NRPF caseworkers, overseeing internal and external referrals, including to immigration advice, use of NRPF Connect, and individualised casework.
• Centralised teams will usually manage the agreements, paid or unpaid, with local legal providers with different levels of support for different cases.
• NRPF officers will also typically be responsible for ensuring that a supported household has been properly advised on their benefit entitlements and provided with employment support where appropriate.

Hospital discharge

• Working protocols between local health providers and the council will be overseen by a team manager and often an NRPF caseworker will become the named contact regarding section 117 aftercare and hospital discharge.
• Given their expertise, non-social work NRPF caseworkers and teams will often find and deliver the housing and subsistence support for these cases whilst NHS colleagues provide any additional care.
• Whether or not the team then recoup those costs from the NHS will be agreed between the two organisations.

Transition to mainstream support

• Transition to mainstream support will be handled differently depending on whether the supported household have any outstanding requirements for social services support.
• If there are no specialist social care requirements, NRPF caseworkers will make referrals to immigration, housing, and benefits services, ideally invoking pre-existing agreements to aid transfer off social care support.
• Otherwise, the assigned social worker and caseworker will work together to manage the transition.

Edge of care and discretionary support

• Dedicated NRPF teams and workers, particularly those which sit in wider refugee and migrant services, are often involved with council-wide initiatives to support migrant victims of trafficking and domestic abuse, including the delivery of discretionary support.
• Dedicated officers will also build directories to signpost people who do not qualify for social services support, which they can share with other council teams.

5.3 Potential challenges

Surveyed councils who have a dedicated NRPF caseworker or team reported the following challenges:

• A positive, clearly defined working relationship between the NRPF caseworkers and social care teams is essential to ensure that needs assessments and care services are delivered to the standard required.
• Centralising knowledge and skills related to delivering social services support to people with no recourse to public funds can lead to a lack of knowledge amongst social workers who then rely on dedicated NRPF colleagues to fully understand their clients’ needs.
• Councils must closely monitor the risk of failing to implement relevant statutory responsibilities under social care legislation when responsibility transfers to a non-social-work team or caseworker.
• Managers must ensure that social workers are involved where oversight methods such as case review meetings are held amongst NRPF caseworkers and social work considerations are discussed.